


Worth It

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: Holly's Round Eight H/C Bingo Card [12]
Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: Canon Temporary Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 10:36:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11400804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: Foaly had fought her, tried to make her understand the delicacy needed to support the clone until it was grown enough to house Artemis' soul, but she was having none of it. She had been the one to transmit Artemis' DNA to Haven City. She had been the one to watch him die. She had been the one to damn him with her eye in his skull. For all that she had done to leave him to this fate and bring this plan to fruition, she would not be kept from watching it come to pass.Holly comes to terms with her willingness to do anything to save Artemis' life. Spoilers for the end of TLG.





	Worth It

Foaly had tried to hide the more unsavory parts of the plan from her, and, admittedly, he had done a better job than normal for him. But there seemed to have been something about watching her go through the motions of her work with a certain lack of luster while they wait for the clone to grow that had been too much for him.

He'd barely lasted ten days before telling her where the clone was hidden.

She'd barely lasted two before she'd asked to see him. It. _Him_.

Foaly had fought her, tried to make her understand the delicacy needed to support the clone until it was grown enough to house Artemis' soul, but she was having none of it. She had been the one to transmit Artemis' DNA to Haven City. She had been the one to watch him die. She had been the one to damn him with her eye in his skull. For all that she had done to leave him to this fate and bring this plan to fruition, she would not be kept from watching it come to pass. So Foaly had relented, allowing her to see the clone even in its earliest stages.

It had been strange, as the months wore on, to watch the way the clone grew. To watch infancy become childhood become early adolescence. In some ways she felt as though she were seeing Artemis clearly for the first time, as the child that he was. He had always seemed larger than life, and more than what his body could possibly hold. He'd battled trolls and demons and pixie with an IQ to rival his, and in the end he'd lost to the nobility she had cultivated in him.

She knows that Butler doubtless blames himself for what came to pass on the Fowl Manor that day, but Holly knows that there is so much more to it than that. That Artemis' death is twice her responsibility—for her eye and for her insistence that he be something _more_ —and if this doesn't work—

She will not let herself think that, she decides, as she watches over the still-growing clone. She will not let her think of what might happen should they fail. She will not let her think of a world without Juliet's escapades, without excuses to save the world with Butler, without… without Artemis. She stares down at the sleeping form of the clone, so close in form to the boy that had taken her hostage so many years ago and will not let herself think of what would happen should their plan fail. Artemis has saved the world— saved _magic_ too many times for the world and magic not to return the favor. He has been too strong, done too much, saved too many lives, done too much good for his soul to be forsaken.

She lets herself imagine, briefly, as she stares down at the clone's form, what it must be like to be a soul without a body. What it must be like to cling to life so desperately, trusting so strongly in one's friends that they might cheat death on your behalf. What it must be like to _believe_ in one's loved ones to the point of self destruction and—

But then, when was the last time she trusted Artemis with anything less than her life?

For all that he was a criminal, underhanded and proud, he was noble to the core, even if Holly herself had had to plant the nobility there herself. He had saved countless lives, including her own on more than one occasion, and this, saving him, was truly the least she could do. It might cost her everything in the end, but, for him, it will be worth it.

To see his face again, lit with glee and the certainty of a well-worked plan? It will be worth it. For him, it will be worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Unbetaed. [Come hang with me on tumblr!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/)


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